r/restoration

Picked this ip in a storage unit auction. Could use some suggestions on how much to restore/refinish. Thanks in advance.

Picked up this rusty old chisel head for $1 at the restore last week and brought it back to life. It had some pretty rough chips and there’s some rust pitting on the underside, but after wire wheeling off all the rust, I reground the bevel and sharpened it up. It took some time but I got it sharp enough to shave some hair off my arm. Then tonight after work I made it a handle out of a piece of poplar dowel and a couple of extra compression nuts I had lying around. I wiped it down with BLO and then will give it another wipe of BLO tomorrow after work, and once that’s dry a layer of paste wax and it’ll will be ready to do some work.

Edges and one side need repair and I am not sure whether to go ahead or not.

These aren't holding butane/not working. I found them in my nans old stuff so not 100% sure of timeline.

Where is the best place in Australia to have them restored back to working?

Some candle wax was spilled on my marble bathroom counter. A metal file (🤦🏻‍♀️) was used to scrape it off and it left these surface scratches. Any advice would be appreciated

I’ve recently been given permission to attempt to restore an old pot bellied stove that belonged to my great grandfather. It’s has almost all of its original parts but I suspect it’s might be missing a few.

I’m specifically looking to identify the brand, model, and potentially any blueprints or patents

I recently restored this beautiful vintage Chatty Cathy doll from the '40s, putting some colour back on her face makes her look much better 🥰

Some people told me I should’ve just replaced these doors. Faster job, easier money. Maybe they were right. But I realized something about myself few years ago… I actually enjoy bringing old things back to life instead of throwing them away.

These doors were tired, worn out, and the owner was ready to replace them completely. After a lot of elbow grease, patience, and craftsmanship, they look brand new again. And honestly, that feeling is hard to beat.

Living and working here in Chicago, one of the best parts of what I do is driving past buildings years later and knowing I left a piece of myself there. Knowing I can pull over, look at the work, and still feel proud of it when the sun hits it just right.

I usually like one-off custom projects, and this one still has two more entryways to go — this is only 1 out of 3 so now I need to do a repetitive job which I don’t like as much as I know how it will look, I like that I came up with the trim around the glass, now wish I could do different style to the other two but have to keep it same.

Also, shoutout to the two doggies that live in one of the apartments. They became my daily buddies, supervisors, and definitely the real bosses on this project. 🐶🐶

Hi! I looked through some old posts and don’t want to be redundant but some of them confused me since it seems the type of wood/age etc really matters in terms of what materials you use. Hoping for some guidance.

My house was built in 1941. The last photo is what the door looks like, it’s beautiful and has paint splatter but that’s ok. The back of the door was completely painted over and it’s in a bathroom and looks cheesy. I have one downstairs that’s the same thing so I’d love to restore both. I love love love the door knobs and hinges and can’t believe someone painted over them! :( the paint on both doors seems wayyyy newer and I think the previous owners painted over everything before selling, so I don’t think it’s lead, but will wear PPE.

I’m in Colorado. I’m not used to restoring things because unfortunately the house was in such bad condition I had to replace a A LOT, but I think I’m down for some nitty-gritty work! Thank you in advance

Hi all. I’m looking for some advice to help fix up some nice old chairs we’ve come across. I think the straps are easy enough to replace but I’m struggling to work out what the metal attachments are called and whether they are easily available to replace too? Any help on this would be very much appreciated, please ignore the mess ha. Thanks in advance!

Worked this rust bucket over today, couldn’t even tell you what it was at the beginning, tang stamp completely buried in rust and crud. Turns out to be a 1946-1950 Camillus Short Line tang stamp. Once cleaned, it’s really a nice carry piece, heavy, and just enough shine to make it proud. Walk and talk a little stiff, CLP will do its thing over time. She’ll walk around with me a few weeks.

The whole process took a few days to allow for the primer and paint to dry and cure. First I degreased the surface and wiped out everything with hot soapy water. I used a rust removal spray to scrub out any visible rust then sprayed a coat of clean metal primer and let it dry. On the top of the cabinet were some holes left behind from screw or nails. I used J-B Weld Steel Stick to fill these from the top with aluminium tape stuck on the other side to stop the putty from going straight through. After it had dried, I sanded it down and it looked great. Once the primer was dry I lightly sanded with 400 grit sandpaper which allows the spray paint to properly adhere to the surface. Sprayed the outer cabinet blue. Taped over the metal pieces on the drawer fronts and sprayed them red and yellow. The tip of my right index finger went numb from the spray painting, a mixture of the gas from the can and the repetitive action of pressing on the nozzle. During this stage the spray paint was reacting with the old paint in different ways. In some areas it was wrinkling up and looked like cracks in a dry lake bed. On one of the drawers there was patches where the original paint had chipped off and I think that the new paint was getting underneath and causing little blisters that would then peel off. This stage was the most gruelling as it meant changing my approach. I used a chemical paint stripper to take things down the the bare metal and start all over. Both drawers and the face of the frame were where the most noticeable problems were. Once that was done I sanded them down and wiped with alcohol to remove any residue that may interfere with the primer or paint. I sprayed on primer and let dry overnight. Once I'd removed paint from the front of the frame I decided to keep it bare metal to avoid buying any more paint and because it would go nicely with the metal pieces on the drawers. I gave everything another coat of paint before polishing the metal pieces and putting them back on. The sliding metal catches on the front (used to stop the drawers opening on their own) would have scratched off paint so I removed that mechanism and glued them on to keep some of it's original form. The legal filing cabinets are not often flat at the bottom and have multiple recesses and I knew this would mean my comic books would not sit evenly, so I went to Michaels and they cut me 2 pieces of thin acrylic plastic that fit perfectly. Now my next task is figuring out how I'm going to store my collection long term. The comic books can only just stand up and have room for the drawer to operate but sometimes a book snags on the frame which is not good. I can lay them down on their long side but I'd prefer to stand them up as it's easier to browse but also I can fit roughly 600 comics in the whole cabinet. I used a paper trimmer to remove roughly ⅛ in. from the top and now they stand up and do not snag!

Carbon steel Made In pan halfway stripped

I’ve been quietly building an app called Origin Search and wanted to get some honest thoughts from people who are into old stuff, antiques, history, restoration, abandoned places, old cars, etc.

The idea came from seeing old houses, rusty objects, random antiques, and damaged old photos and always wondering: what was this thing originally? or what did it look like when it was new?

The app is super simple. You just scan or upload a photo of something — an old item, rusty object, antique, damaged photo, old house/building, car, pretty much anything.

It will:
• Try to identify what it is
• Restore it visually to what it likely looked like in its best/new condition
• Give a history/background on it
• Estimate the value when possible

One thing I’ve actually found useful is restoring really rusty or damaged items just to figure out what they even are before trying to research them.

Still building and improving accuracy, but curious — what would you use something like this for? Old family photos? Antique hunting? Forgotten buildings? Estate sale finds?

have no idea what causes it, other one seems to be fine but it looks like it will die and fall off soon. Anyway to stop it from happening and clean?

Thanks guys!